1. Field of the Invention
The present general inventive concept relates to a nozzle plate of an inkjet printhead, and more particularly, to a nozzle plate of an inkjet printhead, which has excellent ink ejecting performance, and a method of manufacturing the nozzle plate.
2. Description of the Related Art
An inkjet printhead is an apparatus that ejects very small droplets of printing ink on a printing medium in a desired position to print an image in a predetermined color. Inkjet printheads may be largely classified into thermal inkjet printheads and piezoelectric inkjet printheads. The thermal inkjet printhead produces bubbles using a thermal source and ejects ink due to the expansive force of the bubbles. The piezoelectric inkjet printhead applies pressure generated by deforming a piezoelectric material to ink and ejects the ink due to the generated pressure.
FIG. 1 is a schematic cross-sectional view of a conventional piezoelectric inkjet printhead as an example of a conventional inkjet printhead.
Referring to FIG. 1, a manifold 11, a plurality of restrictors 12, and a plurality of pressure chambers 13 are formed in a flow path plate 10 and constitute an ink flow path. A vibrating plate 20 is adhered to a top surface of the flow path plate 10. The vibrating plate 20 is deformed due to the drive of a piezoelectric actuator 40. A nozzle plate 30 having a plurality of nozzles 31 is adhered to a bottom surface of the flow path plate 10. Meanwhile, the flow path plate 10 may be integrally formed with the vibrating plate 20. Also, the flow path plate 10 may be integrally formed with the nozzle plate 30.
The manifold 11 is a path through which ink is supplied from an ink storage (not shown) to the respective pressure chambers 13. The restrictors 12 are paths through which ink is supplied from the manifold 11 to the respective pressure chambers 13. The pressure chambers 13 are arranged on one side or both sides of the manifold 11 and are filled with ink to be ejected. The nozzles 31 are formed through the nozzle plate 30 to communicate with the pressure chambers 13. The vibrating plate 20 is adhered to the top surface of the flow path plate 10 to cover the pressure chamber 13. The vibrating plate 20 is deformed due to the drive of the piezoelectric actuator 40 and provides a pressure variation required for ejecting ink to the respective pressure chambers 13. The piezoelectric actuator 40 includes a lower electrode 41, a piezoelectric layer 42, and an upper electrode 43 that are sequentially stacked on the vibrating plate 20. The lower electrode 41 is disposed on the entire surface of the vibrating plate 20 and functions as a common electrode. The piezoelectric layer 42 is disposed on the lower electrode 42 over the respective pressure chambers 13. The upper electrode 43 is disposed on the piezoelectric layer 42 and functions as a drive electrode for applying a voltage to the piezoelectric layer 42.
In the inkjet printhead having the above-described construction, the surface treatment of the nozzle plate 30 directly affects the ink ejecting performance of the inkjet printhead, for example, the straightness and ejection rate of droplets of ink ejected via the nozzles 31. That is, in order to improve the ink ejecting performance of the inkjet printhead, an inner wall of the nozzle 31 must be ink-philic, while the surface of the nozzle plate 30 outside the nozzle 31 must be ink-phobic. Specifically, when the inner wall of the nozzle 31 is ink-philic, the inner wall of the nozzle 31 makes a small contact angle with ink, so that the capillary force of the nozzle 31 increases. Thus, a time taken to refill ink can be shortened to increase the spray frequency of the nozzle 31. Also, when the surface of the nozzle plate 30 outside the nozzle 31 is ink-phobic, the surface of the nozzle plate 30 can be prevented from being wet with ink so that the straightness of ejected ink can be ensured. An ink-phobic coating layer formed on the surface of the nozzle plate 30 should satisfy the two following requirements. First, the ink-phobic coating layer must make a large contact angle with ink. Second, after ejecting ink, the contact angle of the ink-phobic coating layer with the ink must be maintained constant in time. In other words, the ink-phobic coating layer should have high durability.
Meanwhile, when ink remains around the nozzle 31 during a printing process using the inkjet printhead, the properties of subsequently ejected ink are greatly degraded. Thus, in order to prevent the performance of the inkjet printhead from deteriorating, the surface of the nozzle plate 30 outside the nozzle 31 can be periodically wiped using a solvent, the chief ingredient of ink, to inhibit the ink from remaining around the nozzle 31. However, when the solvent used for cleaning is not completely removed from the surface of the nozzle plate 30, the remaining solvent also adversely affects the ejecting properties of ejected ink. In other words, when the entire surface of the nozzle plate 30 outside the nozzle 31 has an ink-phobic property, it is difficult to control the position of the solvent left on the surface of the nozzle plate 30 after a wiping process, thus degrading the ejecting properties of ink.